40k Kill Team

Having had several games of Kill Team under my belt I decided to enter my first ever proper tournament at Warhammer World in May!

However...the thought occurred to me...which team do I use?!

For my first team, I went with a squad of 5 Plague Marines, two armed with melta guns, whilst the champion just has melta bombs. The Plague Marines are toughness 5, with feel know pain and carry blight grenades, negating a single extra attack from one opponent when charged, very useful. Next I choose a 10 man cultist sqaud, with one being armed with a shotgun and another armed with a heavy stubbier. The advantage here is numbers and toughness, having agonised as to whether or not to upgrade the cultists with Toughness 4  their save is terrible, but toughness 4 makes them as resilient as a normal Chaos Marine.The toughness and resilience of the Plague Marines has come into their own in countless battles.  That all important +5 Feel No Pain is invaluable, plus being Toughness 5, Fearless and wounding on a +4 with their plague knives is a very nice package!

The cultist however are a little more...squishy. If I use them right they can hold objectives, with careful placement the leader can give them back up. The heavy stubber can bang out three strength 4 AP5 shots, whilst the two melta guns can take heavily armoured foes, monsters and tanks, whilst 5 cultists are armed with autoguns, giving some more ranged options.

Next I choose a second Kill Team, this time using a 5 man squad of Thousand Sons, backed up with a Rhino with havoc launcher. Whilst only numbering 6 models, the idea would be that the Rhino can zip around the board, depositing Rubricae at the objective, relying on their power armour and invulnerable saves, whilst dishing out AP 3 bolter rounds.

 The added bonus of this force is the Aspiring sorcerer, and is one of the few forces to utilize psykers, making them deadly in Kill Teams games. The downside to this force is the numbers, however to be able to field a squad of powerful miniatures led by a sorcerer in a tank is too good an opportunity to miss!

The other team I could take, is to simply swap out the rhino for 10 cultists, with no further upgrades. This gives me the numbers whilst still retaining the elite Rubricae cadre, giving me more flexibility on the battlefield. The cultists are just armed with a pistol and close combat weapon, but can still knock out 3 attacks on the charge, and can spread out to cover the Thousand Sons. keeping the Sorcerer close to the cultists means that they can use his leadership should things get tough, also providing him with a suitable meet shield should he need it!

A variation on the Plague Marine team is to swap out the cultists for a Spawn, which has 3 wounds, variable attacks and mutations rolled before engaging in a fight. Couple this with the Mark of Nurgle and you have a effective individual!

Although it has no saving throw, they hope would be to draw fire away from the five Plague Marines. The champion is now armed with a power weapon, whilst the two meltas are still included. This time, the Weapon Specialist will be one of the meltas, increasing his range by half, giving me a 18" melta weapon! Eternal warrior will be given to the champion, meaning that whilst he still has the one wound, it will mean that he will get his +5 Feel Know Pain save against a shot he normally wouldn't be allowed to save against.

I have a few more options I would like to try out, Raptors, Warp Talons, Possessed and even the basic Chaos Space Marine are all viable choices.

Death to the False Emperor!

A Thousand Sons

Well after a long while, her is my freshly painted Thousand Sons army!

Led by the impressive figure of Magnus the Red, and backed up by 30 Rubricae, a Dreadnought and Ahriman this is a force built purely around the Thousand Sons themselves.

Eventually I  may add some of the Tzeentch Kairic Acolytes  from Age of Sigmar as cultists, as those miniatures would fit in very nicely, but overall I wanted the indomitable Rubricae to take center stage. These miniatures are fantastic looking, an look resplendent in the blue and gold.

The force features a 10 man squad with Warpflamers, all mounted in a Rhino armed with a havoc launcher.  They will race across the battlefield and hold an objective from the enemy, burning any foe foolish enough to come close with their war charged flamers and the Aspiring sorcerers psychic might. The havoc launcher will provide supporting fire with its racks of missiles and combi-bolter, also providing physical cover should they need it.

Next up are two squads of 10 Rubricae and 11 Rubricae, all armed with Inferno Boltguns, whilst both Sorcerers have hand Warpflamers. The Boltguns are dishing out S 4 AP 3 Rapid Fire shots whilst the Warpflame weapons have the ability to do more damage or go the other way and grant the enemy Feel No Pain!

The accompanying Dreadnought is armed with a twin-linked lascannon and missile launcher, giving some much needed heavy support to the advancing infantry.

 To top off this light army, Magnus the Red and Ahriman were a must! To have these two iconic villains marching and fighting together once more was an opportunity not to be missed!

Next up for the army will be some of the Tzaangors as more fodder for the enemy guns, and a horde of converted Acolytes as mentioned earlier, with a Predator or two to round off the force. This army is intended to work alongside my other Chaos forces, of which more shall be revealed in time for the 40k End Times, afterall the Age of the Emperor is coming.

New Years Army update

With one of the new year armies almost finished I thought I'd show off one of my Kill Teams.

This force features 4 Rubric Marines, an Aspiring Sorcerer and to accompany them a Rhino equipped with combi-bolter and Havoc Launcher.

The force is very small in number, but packs a hell of a punch!

With each Rubricae dealing rapid firing  shots at AP 3, they are more than a match for other power armoured foes. With the Aura of Dark Glory special rule giving them a +5 Invulnerable save, coupled with their Mark of Tzeentch rule, this gives them a fantastic +4 Invulnerable save,perfect for surviving the close confines in Kill Team missions!

The chance to use a Sorcerer in the game is one not to be missed either as he can dish out potent physic powers with little to stand in his way! To have a pysker in a Kill Team game is lethal!


Using these miniatures as a tester for the rest of the army, I decided to base them in Retributor army, then after a second coating gave the whole miniature a wash of Reiksland wash. after leaving them for a number of hours i went back over the gold in a Army painter greedy gold. Once the armour was complete, next was to block colour in the blue on the models.

Using Ultramarine's blue as a layer first, Thousand Sons blue was then applied over the top, this is then followed by a extreme highlith of Ahriman blue. Next up was the guns which was base coated Gun Metal , then given a wash of Strong Tone, then dry brushed with both Chainmail, then Mithril,

Next was the jem stones found on some of the models, which was given a lick of white paint, followed with a a light wash of green ink, along with the eye lenses

Whilst I'm on the subject of Thousand Sons, I thought Id show some progress on the main man himself, Magnus the Red.

The rest of the army is coming along nicely and will be up on here soon.

More to come!

New year...new start

Greetings Brothers and Sisters!

Its been many a moon since my last blog, for which I do apologise.


With the advent of a new year,  I have begun work on another Chaos force, this time under the cyclopean stare of Magnus the Red.

The Thousand Sons have always appealed to me, with some units showing up in my old Black Legion army lists. This time around however, and with the advent of the fantastic miniatures from Games Workshop, I'v elected to do a whole army based on the Sons of Magnus.

Perhaps my favorite single miniature of 2016, the massively impressive  form of the Crimson King himself. This is a hell of a model, standing almost as tall as a Renegade Knight, this behemoth dominates the battlefield in a superb show of Tzeentch personified. This was bought for me as a present by my lovely wife, who deserves all the credit for it! With him as my centre piece, I have begun adding to the force, with Rubric Marines firmly at the forefront.


Aside from all things 40k, I will be sprucing a small collection of The Lord of the Rings Uruk Hai. These have always had a special place in my heart ever since they came o life on the big screen. The force is a combination of Scouts and Fighing Uruk Hai, backed up with Saruman and Lurts, along with an elite cadre of Berserkers for that added punch. I aim to get the force up to 1,000 with the addition of some Uruks with Crossbows, some Orcs to bulk out the numbers and a Isengard Troll or two.But before all that, I'd best get them painted!

So with those two projects of mine currently on the bench...what work do I have? Well since I now do commission painting, I have recently completed a foce of Ghar for use in the Warlord Games system, Beyond the Gates of Antares for a customer. Also on the bench are a force of Zulu British, and some Walking Dead miniatures.

So...whats next in terms of this blog? Well the aim is to produce at least two articles a month, with a couple of special editions ones thrown in for good measure. This will also coincide with the launch of House Lancaster Gaming's website and YouTube channel later this year...so watch out for that ;)

What new force or project are you fine folk currently working on? I wold love to see what happening so feel free to share on the Facebook page!

Thanks for sticking around folks, and keep checking back for more! You can contact me on here, or at the links below:

HouseLancasterGaming

WarriorsWorkbench

HouseLancasterGamingGroup

TTFN!

Sam